Patents by Inventor Rambus Inc.

Rambus Inc. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20130308383
    Abstract: A composite, hybrid memory device including a first storage die having an array of volatile storage cells and a second storage die having an array of non-volatile storage cells disposed within an integrated circuit package. The hybrid memory device includes a shared interface circuit to receive memory access commands directed to the first storage die and the second storage die and to convey read and write data between an external data path and the first and second storage dice.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Applicant: Rambus, Inc.
    Inventor: Rambus, Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130300482
    Abstract: A multi-phase partial response equalizer circuit includes sampler circuits that sample an input signal to generate sampled signals in response to sampling clock signals having different phases. A first multiplexer circuit selects one of the sampled signals as a first sampled bit to represent the input signal. A first storage circuit coupled to an output of the first multiplexer circuit stores the first sampled bit in response to a first clock signal. A second multiplexer circuit selects one of the sampled signals as a second sampled bit to represent the input signal based on the first sampled bit. A second storage circuit stores a sampled bit selected from the sampled signals in response to a second clock signal. A time period between the second storage circuit storing a sampled bit and the first storage circuit storing the first sampled bit is substantially greater than a unit interval in the input signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130215122
    Abstract: A display apparatus includes a display, a primary light concentrator, a concentrator light guide, and a solar cell. The primary light concentrator is arranged in tandem with the display, and the primary light concentrator is configured to concentrate incident light into an array of output regions. The concentrator light guide receives light from the primary light concentrator. The concentrator light guide includes light redirecting elements aligned with the output regions of the primary light concentrator to redirect light from the primary light concentrator along the concentrator light guide toward an edge thereof. The solar cell is located adjacent the edge of the concentrator light guide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Publication date: August 22, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130202061
    Abstract: As single-ended signaling is implemented in higher-speed communications, accurate and consistent reading of the data signal becomes increasingly challenging. In particular, single-ended links can be limited by insufficient timing margins for sampling a received input signal. A single ended receiver provides for improved timing margins by adjusting a reference voltage used to sample the input signal. A calibration pattern is provided to the receiver as the input signal, and the reference voltage is adjusted toward a median value of the signal. As a result, the receiver provides for reading received single-ended data in a manner enabling accurate data transfer at higher speeds.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: August 8, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130194879
    Abstract: A memory device, system and method for allowing an early read operation after one or more write operations is provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. The memory device comprises an interface for providing a first write address, a first write data, and a read address. A memory core is coupled to the interface and includes a first memory section having a first data path and a first address path and a second memory section having a second data path and a second address path. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data and first address path is independent of the second data and second address path. The first write data is provided on the first data path responsive to the first write address being provided on the first address path while a read data is provided on the second data path responsive to the read address being provided on the second address path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2012
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130194854
    Abstract: A memory device comprising a programmable command-and-address (CA) interface and/or a programmable data interface is described. In an operational mode, two or more CA interfaces may be active. In another operational mode, at least one, but not all, CA interfaces may be active. In an operational mode, all of the data interfaces may be active. In another operational mode, at least one, but not all, data interfaces may be active. The memory device can include circuitry to select: an operational mode; a sub-mode within an operational mode; one or more CA interfaces as the active CA interface(s); a main CA interface from multiple active CA interfaces; and/or one or more data interfaces as the active data interfaces. The circuitry may perform these selection(s) based on one or more bits in one or more registers and/or one or more signals received on one or more pins.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130188436
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses that relate to an integrated circuit (IC) with adaptive power state management are described. The IC can be coupled with, and can control the operation of, a memory device. The IC and the memory device can be operated in multiple operational states, wherein each operational state may represent a tradeoff point between performance and power consumption. The IC may be capable of: (1) changing the operational state of the IC and/or the operational state of the memory device based on the occurrence of one or more conditions, and/or (2) changing the one or more conditions based on measuring one or more performance values associated with the IC and/or the memory device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2012
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130182457
    Abstract: A lighting assembly includes a light guide in which light propagates by total internal reflection between opposed major surfaces. The light guide receives light generated by two light sources at opposed light input edges of the light guide. The light guide includes light extracting elements that respectively extract light to form a left eye image at a first region and a right eye image at a second region. The left eye and right eye images, when viewed by a viewer, form a static autostereoscopic image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Publication date: July 18, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130176763
    Abstract: A stacked memory is disclosed including a first integrated circuit memory chip having first storage locations and stacked with a second integrated circuit memory chip. A redundant memory is shared by the first and second integrated circuit memory chips and has redundant storage locations that selectively replace corresponding storage locations in the first or second integrated circuit memory chips. The stacked memory also includes a pin interface for coupling to an external integrated circuit memory controller and respective first and second signal paths. The first signal path is formed through the first and second integrated circuit memory chips and is coupled to the redundant memory and to the pin interface. The second signal path is formed through the first and second integrated circuit memory chips and is coupled to the redundant memory and to the pin interface via the first signal path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130176800
    Abstract: A memory controller outputs address bits and a first timing signal to a DRAM, each address bit being associated with an edge of the first timing signal and the first timing signal requiring a first propagation delay time to propagate to the DRAM. The memory controller further outputs write data bits and a second timing signal to the DRAM in association with the address bits, each of the write data bits being associated with an edge of the second timing signal and the second timing signal requiring a second propagation delay time to propagate to the DRAM. The memory controller includes a plurality of series-coupled delay elements to provide respective, differently-delayed internal delayed timing signals and a multiplexer to select one of the delayed timing signals to be output as the second timing signal based on a difference between the first propagation delay time and the second propagation delay time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2013
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130168674
    Abstract: A three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D-IC) includes a stack of semiconductor wafers, each of which includes a substrate and a device layer. Programmable components, such as memory arrays or logic circuits, are formed within the device layers. Some of the programmable components are redundant, and can be substituted for defective components by programming passive memory elements in a separate conductive layer provided for this purpose. The separate conductive layer is devoid of active devices, and is therefore relatively reliable and inexpensive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2012
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130162460
    Abstract: An electronic device for wirelessly tracking the position of a second electronic device is disclosed. The electronic device includes transceiver circuitry and processing circuitry. The transceiver circuitry includes a beacon generator to generate a beacon at a particular frequency and direction. An antenna array transmits the beacon, and receives at least one modulated reflected beacon from the second electronic device. The transceiver circuitry also includes a discriminator to discriminate between received modulated reflected beacons and received reflected interfering beacons. The processing circuitry couples to the transceiver circuitry and tracks the position of the second device based on the modulated reflected beacons.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2012
    Publication date: June 27, 2013
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130148437
    Abstract: In response to detecting an event during operation of an integrated-circuit memory device containing charge-storing memory cells, an electric current is enabled to flow through a word line coupled to the charge-storing memory cells for a brief interval to heat the charge-storing memory cells to an annealing temperature range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2012
    Publication date: June 13, 2013
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130138911
    Abstract: Memory controller concepts are disclosed in which hardware resources of a memory controller can be re-used or re-configured to accommodate various different memory configurations. The memory configuration may be stored in mode register bits (228), settable by a host or operating system. By re-configuring or reallocating certain resources of a memory controller, for example command logic blocks (A,B,C,D in FIG. 1A), a single controller design can be used to interface efficiently with a variety of different memory components. Command logic blocks that support N×M memory ranks, for example, can be reconfigured to support N ranks and M threads for multi-threaded memories (FIG. 1A). Data buffer (232, 254) depth can be extended by reconfiguring the buffers responsive to the mode register bits (228). Request buffers can be shared across command logic blocks, for example to increase the request buffer depth (FIG. 3A). Unused circuits can be powered down to save power consumption (FIG. 4A).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2012
    Publication date: May 30, 2013
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130132685
    Abstract: Embodiments generally relate to a command protocol and/or related circuits and apparatus for communication between a memory device and a memory controller. In one embodiment, the memory controller includes an interface for transmitting commands to the memory device, wherein the memory device includes bitline multiplexers, and accessing of memory cells within the memory device is carried out by a command protocol sequence that includes a wordline selection, followed by bitline selections by the bitline multiplexers. In another embodiment, a memory device includes bitline multiplexers and further includes an interface for receiving a command protocol sequence that specifies a wordline selection followed by bitline selections by the bitline multiplexers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2012
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130121094
    Abstract: Embodiments of an integrated circuit (IC) comprising a delay-locked loop (DLL) are described. Some embodiments include first circuitry to generate a first clock signal by delaying an input clock signal by a first delay, second circuitry to determine a code based on the input clock signal and the first clock signal, and third circuitry to produce an output clock signal based on the input clock signal and the code. In some embodiments, the power consumption of the DLL circuitry is reduced by powering down at least some parts of the DLL circuitry for most of the time. In some embodiments, the clock signal that is used to clock the command-and-address circuitry of a memory device is used to clock the on-die-termination latency counter circuitry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Publication date: May 16, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130114363
    Abstract: A multi-modal memory interface that supports each of current-mode and voltage-mode signaling by a memory controller with a memory which includes one or more memory devices. In a first type of system, the memory interface is configured to provide differential current-mode signaling from the memory controller to a first type of memory, and differential voltage-mode signaling from the memory to the memory controller. In contrast, in a second type of system, the memory interface is configured to provide single-ended voltage-mode signaling from the memory controller to the memory, and single-ended voltage-mode signaling from a second type of memory to the memory controller. To support these different types of systems, the memory controller couples different types of drivers to each I/O pad. The resulting capacitance is reduced by sharing components between these drivers. Moreover, in some embodiments, the memory interface is implemented using “near-ground” current-mode and voltage-mode signaling techniques.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2012
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130111256
    Abstract: A memory system in which a timing drift that would occur in distribution of a first timing signal for data transport in a memory device is determined by measuring the actual phase delays occurring in a second timing signal that has a frequency lower than that of the first timing signal and is distributed in one or more circuits mimicking the drift characteristics of at least a portion of distribution of the first timing signal. The actual phase delays are determined in the memory device and provided to a memory controller so that the phases of the timing signals used for data transport may be adjusted based on the determined timing drift.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2012
    Publication date: May 2, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: Rambus Inc.
  • Publication number: 20130111176
    Abstract: A memory controller having a time-staggered request signal output. A first timing signal is generated while a second timing signal is generated having a first phase difference relative to the first timing signal. An address value is transmitted in response to the first timing signal and a control value is transmitted in response to the second timing signal, the address value and control value constituting portions of a first memory access request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2012
    Publication date: May 2, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.
  • Publication number: 20130097403
    Abstract: A memory system includes an address mapping circuit. The address mapping circuit receives an input memory address having a first set of address bits. The address mapping circuit applies a logic function to the input memory address to generate a mapped memory address. The logic function uses at least a subset of the first set of address bits in two separate operations that respectively determine two portions of the mapped memory address.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2012
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventor: RAMBUS INC.